Arraia

A highly acclaimed novella in Germany. And rightly so. Two German seminarists, which are friends, travel with a small boat on the Amazon. The heat, the suffocating humidity, changing with heavy rain, which at least brings some alleviation and then the unbearable cycle starts again. Insects, and abundant, green vegetation everywhere – the mythical rain-forrest. It is often used as symbol of live but who was once there will have a different impression: everything is dying and rotting. Does it sound familiar from son many other books? It reminds me to my own experiences with the jungle and brings Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” to my mind.
This is the exterior setup in which the relation between the seminarists is embedded. And this oscillating (like the weather) but ever-mounting confrontation is the pearl of the novella. These are not super-heros, you can identify with them. Two different characters – they just have to collide in an extreme situation. The story culminates when one is stung by a sting ray and he needs desperately help from the other.
Many of the critics like the very artistic sentences. I found them sometimes rather artificial. Nevertheless, that would be the only “weak” point from my perspective. of course, others like exactly that.